S^PiSW! 


DISCOURSE 


Off    THE 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


LT.GEN.THOS.J..IACKS(«. 

(C.    S.    A. 

LATE   PROFESSOR  OP   NATURAL  AM)  EXPERIMENTAL  PHILOSOPHY 
IN    THE    VIRGINIA    MILITARY    INSTITUTE. 


BY  FRANCIS  H.  SMITH,  A.  JVI. 

SUPERINTENDENT  OF   THF.   VIRGINIA  MILITARY   INSTITUTE. 

Head  before  the  Board  of  Visitors,  Faculty  an 3   Cadets,  July  1st.  1863. 

WITH 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INSTITUTION, 

IN   HONOR  OF  THE   ILLUSTRIOUS   DEO  EASED. 


[  Published  by  ord»-r  of  the  Board  of  Visitors.] 


RICHMOND: 

RITCHIE    &    DUNNAVANT,    PRINTERS. 
1863. 


DISCOURSE 


ON  THE 


LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 


OF 


LT.  GEN.  THOS.  J.  JACKSON 

(C.  S.  A.) 

LATE  PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL  AND  EXPERIMENTAL  PHILOSOPHY 
IN  THE   VIRGINIA  MILITARY  INSTITUTE. 


BY  FRANCIS  H.  SMITH,  A.  M. 

SUPERINTENDENT  OF  THE  VIRGINIA  MILITARY  INSTITUTE. 

Bead  before  the  Board  of  Visitors,  Faculty  and  Cadets,  July  1st,  1363. 

WITH 

PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INSTITUTION, 

IN  HONOR  OF  THE  ILLUSTRIOUS  DECEASED. 


[  Published  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Visitors.] 


RICHMOND: 

RITCHIE   &   DUNNAVANT,    PRINTERS. 
1863. 


THt  FLOWERS  COLLECTION 


DISCOURSE. 


The  providential  arrangements  by  which  the  Virginia  military 
institute  has  been  prepared  and  fitted  for  the  great  work  devolving 
upon  it,  in  the  momentous  struggle  through  which  our  country  is 
now  passing,  is  one  of  the  most  marked  indications  of  the  favor 
and  J>lessing  of  God  to  it  and  to  our  country.  Ushered  into  being 
at  a  time  of  profound  peace — when  nothing  seemed  so  improbable 
as  the  existence  of  civil  war — when  the  necessity,  or  even  utility 
of  a  military  school  seemed  scarcely  to  have  been  conceived  of 
by  it?  founders — every  step  in  its  history,  from  its  inception  to  the 
present  moment,  indicates  the  directing  and  controlling  hand  of 
God,  which  has  brought  it  into  existence — shaped  its  policy  and 
animated  its  energies  for  the  distinctive  work  to  which  he  has 
called  it. 

By  its  necessary  organization  as  a  public  guard  to  the  state 
arsenal,  its  military  character  was  distinctively  defined.  With 
strong  temptations,  from  the  current  of  public  opinion,  to  adapt 
its  system  of  studies  to  the  ordinary  college  curriculum,  it  has 
been  kept,  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  strictly  to  the  scientific 
course  prescribed  for  military  schools — so  that  it  has  been  hemmed 
in,  as  it  were,  by  causes  over  whfch  it  could  exercise  no  control, 
to  a  work  seemingly  unnecessary,  but  which  the  experience  of  the 
last  two  years  has  shown  to  have  been  most  effective  for  the  cause 
of  our  oppressed  country. 

See  the  wonderful  evidences  of  public  confidence,  in  the  liberal 
support  given  to  it  by  our  state  authorities — the  no  less  obvious 
appreciation  of  its  worth,  not  as  a  school  for  military  knowledge 
so  much  as  a  school  for  discipline,  by  its  patrons— in  the  con- 
stantly increasing  demand  for  the  benefits  of  its  system  of  govern- 
ment. See'  how  state  after  state  in  our  Southern  Confederacy — 
some   enthusiastically— others    reluctantly — but    all    firmly — has 


T7ZZo1 


taken  up  the  system  of  military  schools — thus  following  the  lead 
of  Virginia.  First,  South  Carolina,  with  its  well-endowed  and 
well-managed  schools  at  Charleston  and  Columbid;  then  Georgia, 
at  Marietta  ;  Kentucky,  at  Frankfort;  Tennessee,  at  Nashville; 
North  Carolina,  at  Charlotte  and  Hillsbor^  ;  Louisiana,  at  Alex- 
andria; Arkansas,  at  Little  Rock;  Florida,  at  Tallahassee — 
then  Texas ;  and  finally,  Alabama,  in  the  thorough  reorganiza- 
tion of  its  state  university  at  Tuscaloosa,  upon  the  model  of  this 
institution :  And  thus  has  each  southern  state  been  led,  by  an 
unseen  guidance,  to  a  work  of  preparation  for  the  crisis  of  our 
country — so  that,  when  the  cry — "To  arms!"  was  heard,  the 
alumni  of  these  various  military  schools  rallied  around  the  stan- 
dard of  the  country,  and  prepared  the  untrained  bands  of  freemen 
for  the  dreadful  conflict  in  which  they  were  so  soon  to  be  engaged. 
Thus  has  Providence,  through  agencies  which  have  been  quietly 
and  noiselessly  operating  through- a  period  of  twenty-four  years, 
raised  up  a  class  of  educated  officers,  to  meet  the  first  onset  of 
the  trained  and  disciplined  armies  which  our  northern  foe  was 
hurling  against  us. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  argue  here  the  value  of  such  providen- 
tial pre-arrangement,  or  the  necessity  for  it,  or  how  much  our 
country  owes  to  the  noble  heroes  who  have  made  themselves  and 
their  country  illustrious  by  their  deeds,  and  yet  have  not  had  the 
advantages  of  the  education  which  military  schools  supply — whose 
lessons  have  been  acquired  in  the  school  of  the  soldier,  on  the 
.field  of  battle  and  in  the  camp.  But.it  does  not  detract  from  the 
merit  or  honor  of  these  to  say  that  our  struggle  would  have  been 
a  very  different  one  had  we  not.had  the  well-trained  teaching  and 
discipline  of  military  schools,  in  our  Dees  and  Johnstons  and 
Jacksons  ;  our  Beauregard  and  Longstreet  and  Polk  and  Bragg 
and  Hardee  and  Pemberton ;  the  Hills  and  Ewell  and  Early  and 
Magruder,  and  many  other  general  officers  of  distinction  from 
West  Point ;  in  our  own  Rodes  and  Garland,  and  eight  other 
general  officers ;  our  sixty  colonels,  fifty  lieutenant  colonels,  fifty 
majors,  one  hundred  and  fifty  captains,  one  hundred  general  and 
regimental  staff  officers,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  subalterns 
from  the  Virginia  military  institute;  and  in  the  hundreds  of  other 
officers  of  various  grades  and  high  distinction,  from  the  several 


'5 

military  schools  of  the  South.  The  testimony  of  our  own  Wash- 
ington, conclusive  as  it  is,  will  he  received  with  authority  on  this 
point.  In  his  last  annual  message  to  congress,  Decemher  7.  1796, 
he  thus  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  military  academy: 

"  The  institution  of  a  military  academy  is  also  recommended 
by  cogent  reasons.  However  pacific  the  general  policy  of  a  na- 
tion may  be,  it  ought  never  to  be  without  an  adequate  stock  of 
military  knowledge  for  emergencies.  The  first  would  impair  the 
energy  of  its  character,  and  both  would  endanger  its  safety,  or 
expose  it  to  greater  evils,  when  war  could  not  be  avoided.  Be- 
sides, that  war  might  not  often  depend  upon  its  own  choice.  In 
proportion  as  the  observance  of  pacific  maxims  might  exempt,  a 
nation  from  the  necessity  of  practicing  the  rules  of  the  military 
art.  ought  to  be  its  care  in  preserving  and  transmitting,  by  propel 
establishments,  the  knowledge  of  that  art.  Whatever  argument 
may  be  drawn  from  particular  examples,  superficially  viewed,  a 
thorough  examination  of  the  subject  will  evince  that  the  art  of 
war  is  both  comprehensive  and  complicated;  that  it  demands 
much  previous  study;  and  that  the  possession  of  it,  in  its  must 
improved  and  perfect  state,  is  always  of  great  moment  to  the 'se- 
curity of  a  nation.  This,#  therefore,  ought  to  be  a  serious  care  of 
every  government ;  and  for  this  purpose,  an  academy,  where  a 
regular  course  of  instruction  is  given,  is  an  obvious  expedient 
which  different  nations  have  successfully  employed."  (U.  S.  Doc 
Foreign  ReL,  vol.  iii,  p.  31,  2.) 

When  we  contemplate  the  interior  organization  and  history  of 
the  Virginia  military  institute,  we  arc  no  less  struck  with  the 
providence  which  has  guided  the  administration  of  the  school. 
Although  its  operations  have  been  steadily  expanding,  and  the 
number  of  its  professorships  greatly  enlarged,  no  resignation  has 
ever  taken  place  in  its  faculty  since  its  organization  in  1839  ;  and 
no  death  has  occurred  in  the  corps  of  instructors  or  professors 
during  this  long  period,  until  the  heavy  calamity  which  has  clothed 
a  nation  in  sorrow  and  mourning,  when  our  own 'illustrious  Jack- 
son fell.  The  same  mind  which  originally  conceived  the  plan, 
and  enforced  the  practicability  of  such  a  military  school,  and 
gave  its  matured  wisdom  to  the  deliberations  of  the  first  board  of 
visitors,  still  continues  to  direct  the  important  department  of  in- 


6 

struction  to  which  he  was  called  on  the  11th  November  1839. 
The  venerable  and  faithful  officer,  whose  annual  visits  have 
known  no  omission  for  twenty-three  years,  still  serves  as  our  ad- 
jutant general,  and  gives  to  us  to-day  the  wise  counsels  'which 
have  directed  us  through  this  long  period :  And  when  the  war 
broke  out,  it  was  no  less  a  providence  that  the  governor  of  the 
state  was  one  who  had  been  born  and  reared  in  our  midst,  who 
knew  intimately  the  character  of  the  institution — was  acquainted 
with  the  peculiar  qualifications  of  all  its  officers,  and  was  the  bet- 
ter able  to  appreciate  the  nature  of  the  work  before  him,  and  to 
avail  himself  of  the  institution  in  the  way  best  calculated  to  pro- 
mote the  public  good.  It  was  thus,  by  the  sagacity  of  Governor 
Letcher,  that  the  corps  of  cadets  was  ordered  to  Richmond,  and 
organized  at  Camp  Lee  into  a  camp  of  instruction,  in  which 
15,000  troops  were  drilled  and  prepared  for  the  part  taken  by 
them  in  that  first  great  victory  of  Manassas.  It  was  he  that 
selected  General,  then  Major  T.  J.  Jackson  for  one  of  his  earliest 
appointments  as  a  colonel  of  volunteers,  and  ordered  him  to  the 
command  of  Harpers  Ferry,  where,  with  a  large  number  of  the 
alumni  of  this  institution,  and  with  a  detachment  of  cadets,  he 
organized  and  gave  efficiency  to  his  Stonewall  brigade.  It  was 
thus  too,  that,  forewarned  by  the  John  Brown  raid,  Governor 
Wise  instructed  the  superintendent  of  the  Virginia  military  insti- 
tute to  detail  a  competent  officer  to  prepare  and  publish  a  work 
on  military  tactics,  for  the  use  of  our  volunteers  and  militia;  and 
that  under  this  order  our  southern  soldiers,  as  they  rallied  around 
the  standard  of  the  country,  were  supplied  with  Gilliam's  Tactics 
as  a  hand  book  for  the  field.  And  thus,  step  by  step,  we  may 
trace  the  hand  of  God  in  the  successive  instrumentalities  which 
he  has  used,  and  by  which  he  has  made  this  school  an  important 
agent  in  the  stupendous  conflict  now  calling  forth  the  full  energies 
of  our  people. 

But  the  spirit  of  war  is  antagonistic  to  the  genius  and  spirit  of 
religion:  and  although  it  is  a  maxim  of  christian  prudence,  "in 
peace,  prepare  for  war'''  war  itself  must  be  counted  one  of  the 
direst  calamities  with  which  God  afflicts  a  nation.  What  suffering 
and  cruelty  result  from  it?  How  the  heart  and  the  conscience 
and  the  sensibilities  are  deadened — how  the  morals  of  the  young 


are  corrupted,  and  how  varied  and  sad  the  train  of  evil,  even 
when  war  has  ceased,  ana  peace  once  again  returns  with  its  bless- 
ings to  the  land.  How  great  the  restlessness  Of  the  young — the 
disregard  of  human  life  and  human  interests.  Vice  and  immo- 
rality and  irreligion  stalk  through  a  land  when  once  war  (and  that 
civil  war)  falls  upon  it.  The  "feints"  and  "disguises"  and 
"snares"  and  "stratagems"  of  the  soldier  are  made  the  basis  for 
many  a  "device"  of  the  evil  one,  by  which  to  entrap  the  unwary 
youth— so  that,  while  the  Virginia  military  institute  has,  under 
the  providence  of  God,  been  prepared  for  the  great  struggle  of 
our  revolution,  and  to  be  used  in  it  for  the  accomplishment  of 
much  that  was  good,  it  would  seem  as  if  this  could  only  be  done 
by  endangering  all  that  was  "pure"  and  "lovely"  and  "of  good 
report"  in  the  school  itself;  and  that  germs  of  evil  had  also  to  be 
developed,  which  would  well  nigh  neutralize  all  that  was  hopeful 
or  good. 

And  just  here,  when  such  thoughts  were  gaining  access  to  the 
minds  of  the  friends  of  the  young,  God  has,  by  a  mysterious  pro- 
vidence, presented  to  the  young  soldier  such  a  model  of  a  christian 
soldier  in  the  life  and  death  of  Lieutenant  General  T.  J.  Jackson, 
which  has  scarcely  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  christian  heroism, 
with  the  design  and  purpose,  as  we  humbly  trust,  of  directing  the 
hearts  of  the  young,  and  especially  of  the  young  men  of  this  in- 
stitution, to  acknowledge  him  whom  their  illustrious  professor 
honored,  and  to  teach  them,  by  his  example,  that  true  greatness 
rests  upon  a  trustful  submission  to  the  will  of  God,  as  he  is  re- 
vealed to  us  in  his  Son  Jesus  Christ. 

Let  us  contemplate  the  lesson  thus  presented  to  us. 

Born  in  the  county  of  Harrison,  Virginia,  of  a  large  and  most 
influential  family,  the  early  boyhood  of  Jackson,  if  not  oppressed 
by  poverty,  was  a  continued  struggle,  from  the  straitened  circum- 
stances of  his  family,  caused  by  the  loss  of  security  money  by  his 
father,  then  a  practicing  lawyer  in  that  section.  Schools  of  an 
ordinary  grade  were  inaccessible  to  his  means ;  and  such  instruc- 
tion as  he  received,  was  obtained  in  the  midst  of  the  severe  de- 
mands for  his  labor  on  the  farm,  with  the  additional  and  most 
serious  drawback  of  bad  health  and  a  feeble  physical  constitution. 
Thus  were  the  years  of  his  boyhood  and  early  youth  passed.    We 


8 

may  picture  to  ourselves  that  manly  and  conscientious  and  thought- 
ful though  delicate  boy,  now  running  the  furrow,  now  planting  the 
grain,  now  harvesting  the  crop,  or  tending  the  cattle  by  day,  and 
in  the  intervals  of  labor  snatching  up  his  grammar  or  geography 
or  history,  and  thus  laying  the  simple  but  solid  foundation  to  that 
education  he  was  soon  to  receive.  These  trials  and  struggles  of 
early  boyhood,  in  its  thirsting  after  knowledge,  present  a  sublime 
spectacle,  while  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  discipline  which 
Jackson  thus  underwent  in  his  western  home,  while  laying  in  the 
rudiments  of  a  plain  English  education,  constituted  an  important 
element  in  the  development  of  those  qualities  which  have  added 
such  lustre  to  his  name. 

In  the  winter  of  1842  he  became  aware  that  a  vacancy  existed 
from  his  district  in  the  United  States  military  academy  at  West 
Point.  He  was  at  once  fired  with  the  desire  to  secure  the  appoint- 
ment. He  was  conscious  of  the  great  number  of  applicants,  and 
of  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  success.  He  knew  he  was  poorly 
prepared  for  the  severe  and  advanced  studies  of  the  academy ; 
but,  nothing  daunted,  he  resolved  to  make  the  effort — and  trusting 
to  that  providence  whose  guidance  he  ever  acknowledged  and 
sought,  he  started  for  Washington.  His  journey  was  a  difficult 
one,  partly  on  horseback,  partly  on  foot,  and  partly  by  the  public 
conveyances,  he  reached  the  national  capital,  and  laid  his  petition, 
in  person,  before  his  immediate  representative,  the  Hon.  Samuel 
L.  Hays.  The  manner  of  the  youth — his  earnestness,  his  reso- 
lution, his  hopefulness — all. spoke  for  him.  These  were  his  cre- 
dentials ;  and  the  result  was,  he  returned  to  his  home  with  his 
warrant  in  his  pocket — his  first  public  reward  to  honest  effort  in 
the  path  of  duty. 

On  the  1st  of  July  1842  he  was  admitted  a  cadet  in  the  United 
States  military  academy.  His  class  was  a  large  and  distinguished 
one.  Generals  McClellan,  FosXer,  Reno,  Stoneman,  Couch  and 
Gibbon,  of  the  federal  army,  and  Generals  A.  P.  Hill,  Pickett, 
Maury,  D.  R.  Jones,  W.  D.  Smith  and  Wilcox,  of  the  confede- 
rate army,  were  among  his  classmates.  He  was  at  once  brought 
into  competition  with  young  men  of  high  cultivation ;  and  although 
it  is  doubtful  whether  he  had  seen  a  French  book  in  his  life,  or  a 
mathematical  book,  except  his  arithmetic,  he  was  assigned  to  the 


fourth  class,  and  entered  upon  the  study  of  algebra,  geometry 
and  French.  At  the  end  of  his  first  rear,  in  a  class  of  seventy- 
two,  he  stood  45  in 'mathematics,  70  in  French,  had  15  demerit, 
and  was  51  in  general  merit.  Such  a  standing  would  have  dis- 
couraged an  ordinary  youth.  Not  so  with  young  Jackson.  He 
knew  his  early  disadvantages.  He  was  rather  encouraged  that 
he  could  sustain  himself  at  all — and  stimulated  In*  this  hope  and 
confidence,  he  pressed  forward  to  the  work  of  the  next  advanced 
class.  Here  the  studies  were  more  abstruse  and  more  compli- 
cated; but  when  the  examination  came  round,  he  had  risen  to  18 
in  mathematics,  52  in  French ;  was  68  in  drawing  and  55  in  engi- 
neering studies ;  had  2'i  demerit,  and  was  30  in  general  merit. 

In  the  second  class  a  new  course  of  studies  was  presented  to 
him.  Having  completed  the  pure  mathematics,  French  and  Eng- 
lish, he  had  now  to  enter  upon  the  study  of  chemistry  and  natural 
philosophy — and  we  see  the  upward  and  onward  march  of  this 
resolute  youth,  in  the  result  of  the  year,  which  placed  him  11 
in  natural  philosophy,  25  in  chemistry.  59  in  drawing — with  no 
demerit  for  the  year,  and  in  general  merit  he  was  20.  In  July 
1846  his  class  graduated.  In  the  studies  of  the  final  year  he  was 
12  in  engineering,  5  in  ethics,  11  in  artillery,  21  in  infantry  tac- 
tics, 11  in  mineralogy  and  geology,  7  demerit  for  the  year,  and 
his  graduating  standing,  including  the  drawbacks  of  his  previous 
years,  was  17. 

When  we  examine  the  steady  upward  progress  which  charac- 
terized his  academic  life,  from  51  in  his  first  year  to  30  in  his 
second — then  20,  and  finally  17  in  general  standing,  we  can  un- 
derstand the  remark  of  one  of  his  associates,  when  he  said  that 
had  Jackson  remained  at  West  Point,  upon  a  course  of  four  years 
longer  study,  he  would  have  reached  the  head  of  his  class.  And 
the  lesson  which  his  academic  career  presents  is  that  what  he 
lacked  in  early  previous  preparation,  he  made  up  by  extra  dili- 
gence and  unceasing  effort — while  resolute  determination  to  do 
his  duty  caused  him  to  have  but  48  demerit,  with  the  strict  discip- 
line of  West  Point,  in  a  course  of  foup  years. 

It  was  scarcely  possible  for  a  young  man  to  have  entered  upon 
a  course  of  studies  for  which  he  was  less  prepared,  from  want  of 
early  preparation,  than  he  was.  Accustomed  to  the  labor  of  the 
2 


1G 

field,  the  change  in  his  habits  of  life  would  have  unsettled  any 
ordinary  man — but  the  resolute  purpose  to  accomplish  what  he 
had  undertaken,  and  thus  to  vindicate  the  *  confidence  of  his 
friends,  animated  him  through  all  his  difficulties,  and  crowned  him 
with  the  honors  of  a  graduate  and  with  the  commission  as  a  brevet 
second  lieutenant  of  artillery  on  the  1st  July  1846. 

Lieutenant  Jackson  immediately  reported  for  duty  with  his  regi- 
ment, the  1st  artillery,  and  was  soon  after  assigned  to  Magruder's 
light  battery,  then  serving  in  Mexico.  On  the  3d  March  1847  he 
was  promoted  to  a  second  lieutenant,  and  on  the  20th  of  August 
of  the  same  year,  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant.  On  that  day 
the  battles  of  Contreras  and  Churubusco  were  fought;  and  for  "his 
gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  these  battles,"  he  was  brevet- 
ted  a  captain.  The  battle  of  Chapultepec  was  fought  on  the  13th 
September,  and  he  was  again  brevetted  a  major  of  artillery  for 
"  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct"  in  that  battle.  Thus,  in  the 
brief  period  of  fourteen  months,  he  had  risen  from  a  brevet  second 
lieutenant  of  artillery  to  the  rank  of  a  brevet  major  of  artillery— 
a  success  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the  Mexican  war. 
His  division  commander  thus  notices  his  conduct :  "  The  ad- 
vanced section  of  the  battery,  under  the  command  of  the  brave 
Lt.  Jackson,  was  dreadfully  cut  up,  and  almost  disabled."  "Capt. 
Magruder's  field  battery,  one  section  of  which  was  served  with 
great  gallantry  by  himself,  and  the  other,  by  his  brave  Lt.  Jack- 
son, in  the  face  of  a  galling  fire  from  the  enemy's  entrenched  po- 
sitions, did  invaluable  service  preparatory  to  the  general  assault." 

Captain  Magruder,  in  his  official  report,  makes  the  following 
reference  to  him  :  "I  beg  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  major 
general  commanding  the  division  to  the  conduct  of  Lt.  Jackson, 
of  the  1st  Artillery.  If  devotion,  industry,  talent  and  gallantry 
are  the  highest  qualities  of  a  soldier,  he  is  entitled  to  the  distinc- 
tion which  their  possession  confers."  It  is  a  singular  coincidence 
that  this  report  of  Captain  now  Major  General  Magruder,  was  ad- 
dressed to  one  who  has  abundantly  verified  its  accuracy  in  his  own 
disastrous  defeat  at  Chancellorsville.  Captain  now  Major  General 
Joe  Hooker \  of  the  federal  army,  was  the  division  adjutant  gene- 
ral through  whom  Captain  Magruder's  report  was  transmitted. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  when  the  board  of  visitors  of  the  Vir- 


11 

ginia  military  institute  were  looking  about  for  a  suitable  person 
to  fill  the  chair  of  natural  and  experimental  pffilosophy  and  artil- 
lery, the  associates  of  this  young  and  brave  major  of  artillery 
should  have  pointed  him  out  as  worthy  to  receive  so  distinguished 
an  honor.  Other  names  had  been  submitted  to  the  board  of  visi- 
tors by  the  faculty  of  West  Point,  all  of  them  distinguished  for 
high  scholarship  and  for  gallant  services  in  Mexico.  Gen.  Mc- 
Clellan,  Gen.  Reno,  Gen.  Rosrcrans,  of  the  northern  army,  and 
Gen.  G.  W.  Smith,  of  the  confederate  army,  were  thus  named. 
But  the  peculiar  fitness  of  young  Jackson,  from  the  high  testimo- 
nials to  his  personal  character,  and  his  nativity  as  a  Virginian, 
satisfied  the  board  that  they  might  safely  select  him  for  the  vacant 
chair,  without  seeking  candidates  from  other  states.  He  was 
therefore  unanimously  elected  to  the  professorship  on  the  28th  of 
March  1851,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  chair  on  the  1st 
of  September  following. 

The  professional  career  of  Major  J.  was  marked  by  great  faith- 
fulness, and  by  an  unobtrusive,-  yet  earnest  spirit:  with  high  men- 
tal endowments,  teaching  was  a  new  profession  to  him,  and  de- 
manded, in  the  important  department  of  instruction  assigned  to 
him,  an  amount  of  labor,  which,  from  the  state  of  his  health,  and 
especially  from  the  weakness  of  his  eyes,  he  rendered  at  great 
sacrifice.  Conscientious  fidelity  to  duty  marked  every  step  of  his 
life  here,  and  when  called  to  active  duty  in  the  field,  he  had  made 
considerable  progress  in  the  preparation  of  an  elementary  work 
on  optics,  which  he  proposed  to  publish  for  the  benefit  of  his 
classes.  Strict,  and  at  times  stern  in  his  discipline,  though  ever 
polite  and  kind,  he  was  not  always  a  popular  professor ;  but  no 
professor  ever  possessed,  to  a  higher  degree,  the  confidence  and 
respect  of  the  cadets,  for  his  unbending  integrity  and  fearlessness 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duty.  If  he  was  exact  in  his  demands 
upon  them,  they  knew  he  was  no  less  so  in  his  own  respect  for, 
and  submission  to  authority:  and  thus  it  became  a  proverb  among 
them,  that  it  was  useless  to  write  an  excuse  for  a  report  made  by 
Maj.  Jackson.  His  great  principle  of  government  was,  that  a 
general  rule  should  not  be  violated  for  any  particular  good — and 
his  animating  rule  of  action  was,  that  a  man  could  always  accom- 
plish TChat  he  willed  to  perform.    Punctual  to  a  minute,  I  have 


12       . 

known  him  to  walk  in  front  of  the  superintendent's  quarters,  du- 
ring a  hard  rain,  toecaiise  the  hour  had  not  quite  arrived  when  it 
was  his  duty  to  present  his  weekly  class  reports. 

For  ten  years  he  prosecuted  his  unwearied,  labors  as  a  profes- 
sor, making,  during-  this  period,  in  no  questionable  form,  such  an 
impress  upon  those  who,  from  time  to  time,  were  under  his  com- 
mand, that,  when  the  war  broke  out,  the  spontaneous  sentiment 
of  every  cadet  and  graduate  was,  to  serve  under  him  as  their 
leader. 

The  habit  of  mind  of  Major  Jackson,  long  before  he  made  a 
public  profession  of  religion,  was  reverential.  Devoutly  recog- 
nizing the  authority  of  God,  submissiveness  to  him  as  his  divine 
teacher  and  guide,  soon  matured  into  a  confession  of  faith  in  him, 
and  from  that  moment  the  '■'■triple  cord,"  "not  slothful  in  business, 
fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord"  bound  him  in  simple  and 
trustful  obedience  to  his  divine  master. 

With  such  a  spirit  animating  a  resolute,  earnest  and  fearless 
soldier,,  whose  whole  life  had  been  one  continual  struggle  with 
difficulties,  tins  was  the  character,  and  this  was  the  man,  fitted  of 
God,*md  trained  by  his  providence,  to  be  one  of  the  leaders  of 
our  armies,  in  the  momentous  struggle  which  opened  upon  us  with 
the  year  1861 — and  there  was  not  an  officer  nor  a  cadet  of  the  in- 
stitution that  did  not  feel  it  to  be  so.. 

He  left  the  military  institute  on  the  21st  of  April  1881,  in  com- 
mand of  the  corps  of  cadets,  and  reported  for  duty  at  Camp  Lee, 
Richmond.  Dangers  were  thickening  rapidly  around  the  state. 
Invasion  by  overwhelming  numbers  seemed  imminent.  Norfolk, 
Richmond,  Alexandria  and  Harpers  Ferry  wore  threatened.  Offi- 
cers were  needed  to  command  at  these  points.  The  governor  of 
Virginia,  with  the  sagacity  which  has  been  before  noticed,  nomi- 
nated Major  Jackson  as  colonel  of  volunteers.  His  nomination 
was  immediately  and  unanimously  confirmed  by  the  council  of 
state,  and  sent  to  the  convention  then  in  session.  Some  preju- 
dice existed  in  that  body,  from  the  supposed  influence  of  the  Vir- 
ginia military  institute  in  these  appointments,  and  the  question 
was  asked  by  various  members,  Who  is  this  Thomas  J.  Jackson? 
A  member  of  the  convention  from  the  county  of  Rockbridge,  Hon. 


13 

5.  McDowell  Moore,  replied,  UI  caiitell  you  who  he  is.     If  you 
jnct  Jackson  in  command  ai  Norfolk,  he  will  never  leer 
unless  you  order  him  to  do  so."     Such  was  the  impress  made 
his  neighbors  and  friends,  in  his  <<uict  life  a 
military  institute.     His  nomination  was  unanimously  confirmed  by 
-the  convention,  and  his  military  life  fully  vindicates  the  opinion  el 
Mr.  Moore. 

From  this  moment  commenced  a  military  career  so  remarkable, 
that  military  history  scareely  presents  one  more  Ulugtrit  i 

to  the  pen  of  the  the   delineation   of   the.  great 

events  which  marked  these  mo  years  of  his  life.     V. 

know  how  he  sustained  the  honor  of  our  arms  when  he  commanded 
at  Harpers  Ferry — how  gallantly  he  Patterson  at  TL 

rillc. — the  invincible  stand  he  made  with  his  Stonewall  I 
Man;  e  know  the  brilliant  series  of  successes  and  vic- 

tories which  immortalized  his  greal  Valley  campaign — first  defeat- 
ing Milroy  and  Schenck  at  McDowell,  and   pursuing  them  to 
Franklin — then  assailing  Banks  at  Front  Royal  and  Winch 
and  driving  him  discomfited  across  the  Potomac — his  m 
treat  in  the  faee  of  three  opposi  ins — til!  defeat  of  Fremont 

at  Cross  Keys,  and  then  of  Shields  at  Port  Republic — thus  giving 
security  and  peace  to  his  own  Valley.  his  rapid  mare!'. 

to  the  Chick  aliominy — how  he  turned  the  flank  of  McClcllan  at 
Gaines*  Mills— his  subsequent  victory  over  Pope  at  C<  I 
tain — the  part  he  bore  in  the  second  great  victory  at  Manm 
his  investment  and  capture  of  Harpers  Ferry — his  rapid  march 
and  great  conflict  at  Sharpsburg.    And  when  his  last  conflict  (Jp.me, 
and  he  had  conceived  and  executed  a  movement,  which  for 

daring  and  celerity,  exceeded  any  of  his  brilliant  careei 
is,  by  the  mysterious  providence  of  Grod,  cut  down  by  wounds 
from  his  own  men,  and  after  a  week  of  suffering,  borne  with  the 
submission  of  a  christian  hero,  breathed  out  his  spirit  on  Sunday, 
the  10th  of  May  1863,  on  the  very  day  appointed  by  his  comman- 
der in  chief  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  for  the  great  victory  at 
Chancellor smile,  to  which  he; had  so  largely  contributed 
which  he  had  sacrificed  his  life.  It  was  to  the  great  leader  of  the 
army  corps  indeed  a  day  of  thanksgiving  to   God.     "0  death. 


14 

where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?  Thanks 
he  unto  God,  who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

And  now  I  ask,  was  not  General  Jackson  a  great  man  ?  Was 
he  not  a  truly  great  man  ?  If  so,  what  was  the  main  secret  of 
this  greatness  ?  Different  answers  will  be  given  to  this  question, 
fr/>ni  the  point  of  view  from  which  his  character  is  contemplated. 
I  know  that  he  was  brave  and  resolute  and  vigilant  and  indomit- 
able and  rapid,  and  that  these  great  qualities  of  a  soldier  gene- 
rally, give  success,  in  military  operations — but  to  my  mind,  the 
great  principle  that  underlaid  these  capital  qualities,  and  was  the 
animating  spirit  which  gave  effect  to  them,  was  his  svnple  faith 
and  trust  in  God.  It  was  this  spirit  that  gave  "  strength"  to  him 
in  his  "weakness."  It  was  this  that  made  his  resolute  will -in- 
vincible— caused  him  to  be  "valiant  in  fight,"  and  gave  him  the 
power  "to  turn  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens."  And  his  men 
partook  of  this  spirit.  They  had  faith  in  Jackson,  because  Jack- 
son had  faith  in  God.  Believing  in  the  righteousness  and  justice 
of  our  cause,  he  had  entire  confidence  that  God  would  vindicate 
the  right,  and  in  his  own  good  time  give  us  deliverance.  He  was, 
in  a  word,  a  christian  hero,  who  counted  himself  but  as  an  instru- 
ment in  God's  hands,  to  do  the  work  to  which  he  had  appointed 
him  ;  and  therefore,  in  the  midst  of  his  greatest  achievements, 
his  spirit  was  that  of  the  inspired  penman,  when  he  said : 

"We  got  not  this  by  our  own  sword,  neither  was  it  our  own  arm 
that  saved  us ;  by  thy  right  hand  and  thine  arm,  and  the  light  of 
thy  Countenance,  because  thou  hadst  favor  unto  us." 

"The  Lord  hath  appeared  for  us:  the  Lord  hath  covered  our 
heads,  and  made  us  to  stand  in  the  day  of  battle." 

"The  Lord  hath  appeared  for  us:  the  Lord  hath  overthrown 
our  enemies,  and  dashed  in  pieces  those  that  rose  up  against  us." 

"Therefore,  not  unto  us,  0  Lord,  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy 
name  be  given  the  glory." 

And  therefore  it  is,  tha>t  while  we  bless  God  that  he  has  given 
us  such  a  leader,  and  count  it  an  evidence  of  his  favor  to  our  be- 
loved country,  and  an  earnest  of  our  ultimate  success,  that  he  has 
raised  up  for  us  such  a  champion  for  our  causefwe  turn  from  the 


15 

work  he  has  achieved  for  our  country,  to  contemplate  the  lesson 
wLich  his  life  and  death  prescui — and  we  repeal,  that  bj  the 
mysterious  providence  which  has  taken  him  away  in  the  midst  of 
his  usefulness,  God  has  raised  up  for  the  young  soldier  such  a 
model  of  a  true  christian  hero,  as  to  teach,  by  an  illustrious  ex- 
ample, wherein  true  greatness  lies,  and  to  lead  the  young-  men  of 
this  new  Confederacy  to  honor  that  God  whom  it  was  the  highest 
glory  of  this  great  and  good  man  to  have  loved  and  served. 

Young  men  of  the  Virginia  military  institute  !  Would  you  honor 
the  memory  of  one  who  had  added  such  lustre  to  this  school,  fol- 
low him  as  he  followed  Christ.  Would  you  strive  for  earthly  glory, 
remember  that  great  as  his  fame  is,  he  "counted  all  things  but 
loss  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord." 

Are  you  at  times  discouraged  by  the  difficulties  thrown  around 
your  paths — contemplate  this  manly  youth,  struggling  with  trials 
more  serious  than  fall  to  the  lot  of  most  young  men,  and  en- 
couraged by  his  resolute  example — buckle  on  the  armor  for  the 
conflicts  of  life. 

Do  temptations  assail  you,  remember  that  by  his  teaching,  al! 
things  are  possible  to  a  resolute  will.  Resist  them  as  he  would 
have  resisted,  and  then  the  most  precious  monument  that  can  be. 
reared  to  his  memory  by  this  institution,  will  be  the  record  of  those 
who  have  been  led  by  his  example  to  the  service  of  him  whom  he 
recognized  as  the  captain  of  his  salvation.  And  then  we  shall  all 
see,  in  living  lights,  not  only  the  leadings  of  that  providence  by 
which  this  institution  has  been  trained  and  fitted  for  the  great 
struggle  through  which  we  are  now  passing,  but  by  which  its  pre- 
cious young  men  have  been  made  more  useful  here,  and  prepared 
for  honor  and  glory  and  immortality  hereafter. 


17 


Adjutant  General's  Office,  Va. 

May  11th,  1863. 
Sir: 

By  command  of  the  governor,  I  have  this  day  to 

perform  the  most  painful  duty  of  my  official  life,  in  announcing 

to  you,  and  through  you,  to  the  faculty  and  cadets  of  the  Virginia 

military  institute,  the  death  of  the  great  and  good,  the  heroic  and 

illustrious  Lieut.  Genl.  T.  J.  Jackson,  at  15  minutes  past  3 

o'clock  yesterday. 

This  heavy  bereavement,  over  which  every  true  heart  in  the* 
Confederacy  mourns  with  irrepressible  sorrow,  must  fall,  if  possi- 
ble, with  heavier  force  upon  that  noble  state  institution  to  which 
he  came  from  the  battle  fields  of  Mexico,  and  where  he  gave  to 
his  native  state  the  first  years'  service  of  his  modest  and  unobtru- 
sive but  public  spirited  life.  It  would  be  a  senseless  waste  of  ♦ 
words  to  attempt  an  eulogy  upon  this  great  among  the  greatest 
of  the  sons  who  have  immortalized  Virginia.  To  the  corps  of 
cadets  of  the  Virginia  military  institute — what  a  legacy  he  has 
left  you,  what  an  example  of  all  that  is  good  and  great  and  true 
in  the  character  of  a  christian  soldier. 

The  governor  directs  that  the  highest  funeral  honors  be  paid  to 
his  memory ;  that  the  customaiy  outward  badges  of  mourning  be 
worn  by  all  the  officers  and  cadets  of  the  institution. 
By  command. 

W.  H.  KICHABDSON, 

Adj.  Genl 
Ma j.  Genl.  F.  H.  Smith, 

Supt.  Va.  Mil.  Institute. 


18 


Head  Quarters  V.  M.  Institute, 
May  13th,  1863. 
GENERAL  ORDERS, 

No.  30. 

It  is  the  painful  duty  of  the  superintendent  to  announce  to  the 
officers  and  cadets  of  this  institution  the  death  of  their  late  asso- 
ciate and  professor,  Lieut.  Gen.  Thomas  «!F:  Jackson.  He  died 
at  Guinea's  Station,  Caroline  County,  Va.,  on  the  10th  instant,  of 
pneumonia,  after  a  short  but  violent  illness,  supervening  upon  the 
severe  wounds  received  in  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville.  A  na- 
tion mourns  the  loss  of  General  Jackson.  First  in  the  hearts  of 
the  brave  men  he  has  so  often  led  to  victory,  there  is  not  a  home 
in  the  Southern  Confederacy  that  will  not  feel  the  loss,  and  lament 
it  as  a  great  national  calamity.  But  our  loss  is  distinctive.  He 
was  peculiarly  our  own.  He  came  to  us,  in  1851,  a  lieut.  and 
brevet  major  of  artillery  from  the  army  of  the  late  United  States, 
upon  the  unanimous  appointment  of  the  board  of  visitors,  as  pro- 
fessor of  natural  and  experimental  philosophy,  and  instructor  of 
artillery.  Here  he  labored  with  scrupulous  fidelity  for  ten  years 
in  the  duties  of  these  important  offices.  Here  he  became  a  sol- 
dier of  the  cross,  and  as  an  humble,  conscientious  and  useful 
christian  man,  he  established  the  character  which  has  developed 
into  the  world-renowned  christian  hero. 

On  the  21st  of  April  1861,  upon  the  order  of  his  Excellency 
Governor  Letcher,  he  left  the  institute,  in  command  of  the  corps 
of  cadets  for  Camp  Lee,  Richmond,  for  service  in  the  defence  of 
his  state  and  country ;  and  he  has  never  known  a  day  of  rest  un- 
til called  by  divine  command  to  cease  from  his  labors. 

The  military  career  of  Genl.  Jackson  fills'  the  most  brilliant 
and  momentous  page  in  the  history  of  our  country,  and  in  the 
achievements  of  our  arms,  and  he  stands  forth  a  colossal  figure  in 
this  war  for  our  independence.  His  country  now  returns  him  to 
us,  not  as  he  was  when  he  left  us.  His  spirit  has  gone  to  God 
who  gave  it — his  mutilated  body  comes  back  to  us — to  his  home — 


19 

to  be  laid  by  us  in  the  tomb.     Reverently  and  affectionately  we 
will  discharge  this  last  solemn  duty — And 

"Tho'  his  earthly  suu  is  set, 

ht  shall  linear  round  us  yet, 
Bright — raiiiant— ': 

Yonng  gentlemen  of  the  corps  of  cadets  :  The  memory  of 
neral  Jackson  is  very  precious  to  yon.  You  know  how  faithfnrly, 
how  conscientiously  he  discharged  every  duty.  You  know  that 
he  was  -emphatically  a  man  of  God,  and  that  christian  principle 
impressed  every  act  of  his  life.  You  know  how  he  sustained  the 
honor  of  our  arms  when  he  commanded  at  Harpers  Ferry — how 
gallantly  he  repulsed  Patterson  at  Hainesvilk — the  invincible 
stand  he  made  with  his  Stonewall  brigade  at  M  You 

know  the  brilliant  series  of  successes  and  victories  which  immor- 
talized his  Valley  campaign — for  many  of  you  were  under  his 
standard  at  McDowell,  and  pursued  the  discomfited  Milroy 
Schenck  to  Franklin.  You  know  his  rapid  march  to  the  Chick- 
ahominy — how  he  turned  the  flank  of  McCleUan  at  Gaines'  mill — 
his  subsequent  victory  over  Pope  at  Cedar  mountain — the  part  he 
bore  in  the  great  victory  at  Second  Manassas— his  investment  and 
capture  of  Harpers  Ferry — his  rapid  march  and  great  conflict  at 
Sharpsborg — and  when  his  last  conflict  was  passed,  the  tribute  of 
the  magnanimous  Lee,  who  would  gladly  have  Buffered  in  his  own 
person,  could  he,  by  that  sac;-  e  saved  General  Jackson, 

and  to  whom  alone,  under  God,  he  gave  the  whole  glory  of  the. 
great  victory  at  Chancellorsville.  Surely  tl 
institute  has  a  precious  inheritance  in  the  memory  of  General 
Jackson.  His  work  is  finished.  God  gave  him  to  us  and  to  his 
country.  He  fitted  him  for  his  work;  and  who 
done,  he  called  him  to  himself.  Submissive  to  the  will  of  his 
Heavenly  Father,  it  maybe  said  of  him,  that  while  in  every  heart 
there  ma^be  some  murmuring,  his  will  was  to  do  and  svjfcr  the 
will  of  God. 

Reverence  the  memory  of  such  a  man  as  General  Jackson. 

Imitate  his  virtues,  and  here  over  his  lifeless  remains,  reverently 
dedicate  your  service  and  your  life  if  need  be, — in  defence  of  that 
cause  so  dear  to  his  heart — the  cause  for  which  he  fought  and 
bled — the  cause  in  which  he  died. 


20 

Let  the  Cadet  battery,  which  he  so  long  commanded,  honor 
his  memory  by  half  hour  guns  to-morrow,  from  sunrise  to  sunset, 
under  the  direction  of  the  commandant  of  cadets. 

Let  his  lecture  room  be  draped  in  mourning  for  the  period  of 
six  months. 

Let  the  officers  and  cadets  of  the  institute  wear  the  usual  badge 
of  mourning  for  the  period  of  thirty  days ;  and  it  is  respectfully 
recommended  to  the  alumni  of  the  institution  to  unite  in  this  last 
tribute  of  respect  to  the  memory  of  their  late  Professor. 

All  duties  will  be  suspended  to-morrow. 

By  command  of  Maj.  Gen.  Smith. 

A.  GOVAN  HILL, 

A.  A.  V.  M.  I 


21 


Extract  from  the  Report  of  the  Superintendent— June  22, 1663. 

DEATH  OF  LIEUT. 'GEN.  THOMAS  J.  JACKSON, 

Professor  of  Natural  and  Experimental  Philosophy. 


The  progress  of  the  war  which  our  vandal  foes  are  waging  upon 
us  with  such  savage  ferocity,  continues  to  swell  the  list  of  the 
alumni  and  ex-cadets  of  this  institution  who  have  fallen  in  the 
battles  of  the  country.  I  append  a  list  of  the  names  of  those  who 
have  been  killed  or  died  in  service,  and  also  of  those  who  have 
been  wounded  in  battle.  This  list  shows  at  what  costly  sacrifice 
the  Virginia  military  institute  is  returning  to  the  state  its  debt  of 
gratitude. 


■ 

3 

m 

TO 

4k 

a 
s 
o 

30 

1 
a 

"o 
O 

O 

o 

2 

O 

CO 

a 
| 

cs 

O 

P 

B 

"5 

i 

- 

as 

> 

E 

- 
< 

O 
EH 

Hilled  and  died, 

l 

18 

8 

4 

22 

20 

13 

96 

Wounded, 

3 

18 

14 

11 

19 

20 

- 

'      Total, 

4 

36 

22 

15 

41 

40 

13 

171 

This  table,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  is  doubtless  very  in- 
complete, as  no  returns  have  been  received  from  the  army  of  the 
Mississippi  and  that  of  the  Trans-Mississippi. 

But  this  institution  has  met  with  an  irreparable  loss  in  the  re- 
moval of  one  of  its  most  honored  professors,  while  his  death  has 
covered  the  nation  with  sorrow  and  mourning.  Lt.  Gen.  Thomas 
J.  Jackson,  professor  of  natural  and  experimental  philosophy,  after 
having  been  severely  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville. 
died  at  Guiney  Station  on  the  10th  day  of  May,  of  pneumonia. 
His  remains  having  been  brought  back  to  the  institute  by  the  order 
of  the  governor,  were  received  and  buried  with  military  honors. 


22 

The  military  escort  was  commanded  by  the  commandant  of  cadets, 
Maj.  Scott  Ship,  one  of  his  former  pupils.  It  was  composed  of  a 
regiment"  of  infantry,  of  which  the  corps  of  cadets  constituted  eight 
companies,  one  company  composed  of  detached  members  of  the 
Stonewall  brigade,  and  one  company  of  convalescent  soldiers  from 
the  hospital.  The  Cadet  battery,  whicli  he  had  so  long  command- 
ed, and  which  constituted  a  part  of  the  original  Stonewall  bri- 
gade, serving  with  him  at  First  Manassas,  was  the  artillery  escort. 
A  squadron  of  cavalry  of  Sweeney's  battalion,  Jenkins'  command, 
many  of  the  members  being  from  General  Jackson's  native  sec- 
tion, opportunely  arrived  in  Lexington  in  time  to  form  the  cavalry 
escort,  and  thus  complete  the  military  honors  provided  for  an  offi- 
cer of  his  rank  by  the  Regulations.  The  body  was  borne  on  a 
caisson  of  the  Cadet  battery,  drawn  by  four  horses,  and  led  by  ser- 
vants of  the  institute,  acting  as  grooms-  I  communicate  herewith 
the  orders  from  the  adjutant  general  and  from  these  head  quarters, 
announcing  this  great  calamity  to  the  officers  and  cadets  of  this 
institution. 

As  appropriate  to  the .  relations  sustained  by  Gen.  Jackson  to 
this  institution,  and  the  brilliant  military  career  which  lias  added 
such  lustre  to  his  name  and  to  his  country,  I  have  prepared  an 
address,  commemorative  and  illustrative  of  his' life  and  character, 
which  I  propose  to  deliver  to  the  corps  of  cadets,  in  the  presence 
of  the  board  of  visitors,  on  some  appropriate  evening  of  the  week. 

I  deemed  it  my  duty  to  specially  detail  one  of  the  professors* 
Lt.  Col.  James  W.  Massie,  to  escort  Mrs.  Jackson  to  her  home 
in  North  Carolina. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  proper  that  I  should  state  what  is  al- 
ready known  to  the  board  of  visitors,  that  when  the  war  broke 
out  every  professor  and  assistant  professor  of  the  institution  en- 
tered the  military  service,  in  the  various  departments  of  duty  to 
which  they  were  called,'  and  continued  in  the  discharge  of  these 
duties  until  required  to  resume  their  special  duties  here,  by  the 
order  of  the  governor  and  board  of  visitors,  upon  the  reopening 
of  the  school  in  January  1862. 


23 

The  board  of  visitors  responds,  with  mournful  satisfaction,  to 
the  suggestions  and  observances  of  the  institute  in  honor  of  the 
memory  of  the  lamented  Thomas  J.  Jackson.  The  superintend- 
ent, both  in  his  annual  report  and  in  his  discourse  to  the  assembled 
cadets,  evinced  the  affection  and  esteem  with  which  he  was 
cherished  by  the  brethren  of  the  faculty,  and  paid  a  just  tribute 
to  the  lofty  character  and  heroic  services  of  the  illustrious  de- 
ceased. 

It  was  fit  that  the  public  lamentation  should  find  its  most 
touching  expression  at  the  institute,  whose  reputation  as  a  profes- 
sor he  had  contributed  to  extend,  and  from  which  he  had  gone 
forth  to  fight  his  country's  battles,  to  return  again  to  his  academic 
labors,  after  the  enemy  had  been  expelled  and  subdued. 

The  death  of  Lt.  Gen.  Jackson  was  deplored  as  a  personal 
bereavement  by  the  army,  and  smote  the  confederate  heart  with 
the  weight  of  an  unconsolable  sorrow.  Such  was  his  varied  expe- 
rience, and  in  so  true  a  sense  was  he  a  philosopher,  hero  and 
christian,  that  there  is  not  a  trial  or  emergency,  of  military  or 
even  civil  life,  for  which  due  provision  may  not  be  derived  from  an 
appeal  to  his  example ;  nor  any  position  of  distinction  or  influence 
to  which  his  example  does  not  furnish  incentives  to  aspire.  He 
was  taken  away  m  the  nine  and  thirtieth  year  of  his  age,  "hav- 
ing so  mucli  dispatched  the  true  business  of  life,  that  the  eldest 
rarely  attained  to  his  immense  knowledge,  and  the  youngest  enter 
•not  into  the  world  with  more  innoceucy.  "Whosoever  leads. such  a 
life,  needs  be  the  less  anxious  upon  how  short  warning  it  is  taken 
from  him." 

Resolved,  that  the  chair  of  natural  and  experimental  philoso- 
phy, so  long  and  honorably  filled  by  Lt.  Gen.  T.  J.  Jackson,  be 
hereafter  designated  by  the  name  of  its  first  and  illustrious  pro- 
fessor. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
PH8.5 


